The Irish Channel is a true melting pot of cultures and peoples. Many consider it one of New Orleans most interesting neighborhoods.

Some of the Irish Channel's early history

Irish peasants fleeing the potato famine in the 1840s and 1850s debarked at Adele Street and were channeled from there to the rest of the country.

Irish Channel's name and boundaries

Purists insist that the Irish Channel was originally only one street, Adele Street, which only ran two blocks, from St. Thomas to Tchoupitoulas, and lay between Josephine Street and St. Andrew Street.

There are also several versions of how the Irish Channel got its name. One story is that Irish seamen coming up the river would see the light outside Nouds Ocean Home Saloon on Adele Street and cry out Theres the Irish Channel! Another story is that Adele Street was often flooded after a rain and it seemed like a channel. The truth is that it was probably called the Irish Channel because so many Irish immigrants lived there.

While there were wealthy, prominent Irish people, the Irish who came after the 1840s were largely penniless and had to work as laborers. With no money to explore beyond their debarkation point, many lower-income Irish settled right on that spot.

Along the river there were slaughterhouses, tallow factories, steam driven cotton presses and even a sugar refinery. Work could easily be found in the area for butchers, blacksmiths, bricklayers, saddlers and draymen. As was true elsewhere in the country, the Irish of New Orleans were often considered "expendable" labor. Many were killed while employed at dangerous construction work and other manual labor. The riverfront was also home to petty thieves and prostitutes.

Those who survived the recurring epidemics of yellow fever and saved their money became small businessmen or entered local politics, which helped them to prosper and gain prestige.

Houses and bars

The crowd outside Parasol's Bar during the 2002 St. Patrick's Day festivities.

The Irish lived simply in small cottages. Shotgun houses  single, double and camelback  predominated the neighborhood. Whereas the Irish Channel neighborhood itself was respectable, the riverfront saloons gave it a bad reputation. Today, many of the neighborhood bars are gone, but several bars, including Parasols Bar on Constance Street are still present to entice Irish people to celebrate their heritage. In fact, Parasols is the starting point for the annual St. Patricks Day Parade that marches through the Irish Channel.